The U.S. bishops spoke out on August 1 against federal rules
requiring nearly all new health plans, including those of most religious
agencies, to cover all government-approved methods of contraception as
well as surgical sterilization.
“Under the new rule our
institutions would be free to act in accord with Catholic teaching on
life and procreation only if they were to stop hiring and serving
non-Catholics,” said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, chairman of the U.S.
bishops' pro-life committee.
“Although this new rule gives the
agency the discretion to authorize a ‘religious’ exemption, it is so
narrow as to exclude most Catholic social service agencies and
healthcare providers,” the cardinal noted.
The guidelines,
announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on
August 1, offer the exemption only if a religious employer “has the
inculcation of religious values as its purpose,” “primarily employs
persons who share its religious tenets,” and “primarily serves persons
who share its religious tenets.”
Cardinal DiNardo wondered
whether the federal government may actually “intend to pressure Catholic
institutions to cease providing health care, education and charitable
services to the general public,” by forcing the institutions to choose
between following Catholic principles on the one hand, and serving
non-Catholics on the other.
In a July 22 letter to Congress, the
cardinal stated that “those who sponsor, purchase and issue health plans
should not be forced to violate their deeply held moral and religious
convictions in order to take part in the health care system or provide
for the needs of their families or their employees.”
“To force
such an unacceptable choice,” he wrote,“would be as much a threat to
universal access to health care as it is to freedom of conscience.”
In
his remarks on August 1, the bishops’ pro-life chairman also objected
to Sebelius' statement that the “historic guidelines” would “help ensure
women get the preventive health benefits they need.”
“Pregnancy
is not a disease, and children are not a ‘health problem,’” Cardinal
DiNardo said. “They are the next generation of Americans.”
He
added that Catholics were “not alone in conscientiously objecting to
this mandate,” which would include drugs such as the controversial drug
“Ella.”
While it was approved as an emergency contraceptive, the
cardinal noted, Ella “can act like the abortion drug RU-486,” and “abort
an established pregnancy weeks after conception.”
“The pro-life
majority of Americans – Catholics and others – would be outraged to
learn that their premiums must be used for this purpose.”
Cardinal
DiNardo said it was “now more vital than ever” for Congress to pass the
Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, so that “employers and employees
alike will have the freedom to choose health plans in accordance with
their deeply held moral and religious beliefs.”
That proposal,
which nine Republican and Democratic senators introduced in the House on
March 17, would amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
(popularly known as “Obamacare”) to allow conscientious objectors to opt
out of providing some medical treatments.
The conscience-protection proposal has made no progress in the House since its referral to a subcommittee on March 28.